Now that I’ve had a little over a week to recover I wanted to take a few moments to reflect back on FieldHaven’s fundraiser.
The first annual (hopefully) Classics, Cats and Cabernet fundraising event held at FieldHaven on August 29, 2009 was, from all sides, a fabulous success!
We were decidedly nervous about hosting an event of this scale given the lousy economy, the short planning time we had and just the format in general. If we hosted it would they come? Did the community really care enough about FieldHaven to support us? Would people come to spend an evening at FieldHaven?
Our first hurdle was attempting to secure sponsors. And, yes, that was a big hurdle. The board voted on moving forward with an event just a few short months ago in late April. As we quickly discovered, most companies put in their budgets for charitable contributions much earlier in the year. Combined with our poor timing and the general economy, very few had extra funds to sponsor our event. But several companies and individuals were able to dig deep and support FieldHaven. To them we extend our deepest gratitude!
Ticket sales were launched in mid-July. The emails and mailings went out. I waited for the flood of ticket sales. And waited. And waited. Finally, on about the 5th day I thought that Paypal must not be working. So, I bought my own tickets using Paypal. Bing! An email came into the FieldHaven Paypal email box almost immediately. That made my heart sink but we all kept the faith and if you were here you know that between 350 and 400 people showed up on party day so those ticket sales did pick up.
Many new people were introduced to FieldHaven through some great press. The Lincoln News Messenger published an article that really told the story of the new shelter campaign. Several radio interviews, including an interview on Insight at Capital Public Radio and a PR interview with Walt Shaw on KNCI, gave the event even more exposure.
The party was fantastic! What an incredible feeling of love and support we all felt. The attendees braved stifling heat – about 102 - to ogle over the very cool classic cars and wood boat, sip wines, sample some incredible foods, listen to wonderful music and bid on the wide array of auction and raffle items. And, of course, spend time with all our adoptable and sanctuary cats. Even a few kittens came out of their foster homes to charm the party-goers.
The first annual (hopefully) Classics, Cats and Cabernet fundraising event held at FieldHaven on August 29, 2009 was, from all sides, a fabulous success!
We were decidedly nervous about hosting an event of this scale given the lousy economy, the short planning time we had and just the format in general. If we hosted it would they come? Did the community really care enough about FieldHaven to support us? Would people come to spend an evening at FieldHaven?
Our first hurdle was attempting to secure sponsors. And, yes, that was a big hurdle. The board voted on moving forward with an event just a few short months ago in late April. As we quickly discovered, most companies put in their budgets for charitable contributions much earlier in the year. Combined with our poor timing and the general economy, very few had extra funds to sponsor our event. But several companies and individuals were able to dig deep and support FieldHaven. To them we extend our deepest gratitude!
Ticket sales were launched in mid-July. The emails and mailings went out. I waited for the flood of ticket sales. And waited. And waited. Finally, on about the 5th day I thought that Paypal must not be working. So, I bought my own tickets using Paypal. Bing! An email came into the FieldHaven Paypal email box almost immediately. That made my heart sink but we all kept the faith and if you were here you know that between 350 and 400 people showed up on party day so those ticket sales did pick up.
Many new people were introduced to FieldHaven through some great press. The Lincoln News Messenger published an article that really told the story of the new shelter campaign. Several radio interviews, including an interview on Insight at Capital Public Radio and a PR interview with Walt Shaw on KNCI, gave the event even more exposure.
The party was fantastic! What an incredible feeling of love and support we all felt. The attendees braved stifling heat – about 102 - to ogle over the very cool classic cars and wood boat, sip wines, sample some incredible foods, listen to wonderful music and bid on the wide array of auction and raffle items. And, of course, spend time with all our adoptable and sanctuary cats. Even a few kittens came out of their foster homes to charm the party-goers.
The music provided by the very fun group, Brazen Hussies and the Bad Boyz, was absolutely perfect for the setting and format. Even the horses appeared to be rocking out as 2 horses tried to dance with each other over the bars of their paddock causing me to make a mad dash to the barn to break up the equine rumba before a leg could become caught.
The food and wine turned out perfect in spite of some stressful moments in the weeks leading up to the day. We heard great comments from attendees that the variety of wines and different foods was extraordinary. A huge debt of gratitude to my close friend Jane Cozart and caterer George Carreras for coordinating the food offerings. And, to the restaurants and food vendors who served and endured the heat to cook their specialties!
Greg Patton MC’d the day, corralling the audience to bring in some very successful live auction dollars. Greg had some fun with a couple of the unique auction items we had including a sight-seeing Bayou trip and several wine-tasting and tour excursions.
FieldHaven volunteers really stepped up to the challenge and made the day a complete success. Being an inaugural event there were a lot of “loose ends” in spite of all of our best planning. The flood of auction items exceeded our expectations so we were up until the early morning hours of Saturday cataloging and displaying donations. We anticipated a lot of bottled water would be needed but an hour into the event we ran out. In the middle of printing last minute signage the printer cartridges ran out of ink. A volunteer picking up some of the wine found that the store had sold some of our put-aside wine. My cat Louise appeared to have escaped the house in the morning. Every person on the property was helping me search for her – until she was found snoozing in one of auction item boxes in my dining room! All of these challenges were met with a deep breath and a quick plan to take care of the situation. The volunteers in this organization continue to amaze me at how competent, dedicated and caring they are. I am humbled and honored by the very fact that they are part of FieldHaven. This day could not have happened without them.
During the entire day FieldHaven was bursting at the seams with the good will and love of a community who turned out to support a wonderful and worthy cause.
And, at the end of the day each and every one of the FieldHaven kitties was comfortable in their respective beds in the Cat Trailer……….dreaming of the new shelter we will be building someday soon.
Cats, Classics and Cabernet raised nearly $34,000 towards the new shelter fund. Many thanks to our sponsors for their support. Stay tuned for information about Cats, Classic and Cabernet 2010.
You can view photos from the event at
and
http://fieldhaven.phanfare.com/4326485#imageID=80449451
There's a great video also online at
http://fieldhaven.phanfare.com/4323992#imageID=80425505
There's a great video also online at
http://fieldhaven.phanfare.com/4323992#imageID=80425505
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